Interview With Gerard Butler on the Filming of 'Chasing Mavericks'

In an interview with Gerard Butler, who took on the role of playing Frosty Hesson, the big-wave surfer from Northern California in "Chasing Mavericks," TransWorld Surf editor Justin Cote finds out more about Butler's surfing experience and the kind of training he did to prepare for this role.

The Scottish-born actor says he only surfed once at age 17 for 15 minutes. It wasn't until he took on the movie part that he really started to get to know the surfing lifestyle and learn how to be on a board.

"I went up to Santa Cruz and surfed with Frosty, the character I’m playing. I was just getting in the water and learning to deal with different types of conditions and different types of waves," said Butler.

He also says in the interview that "when this movie came along, I thought it’d be a perfect opportunity to get into surfing and tell an incredible tale about the surfing world."

Butler talks more about his ascent from a beginner surfer straight to towing Mavericks.

"One of the big things I wanted to do was to learn to tow-in. I was secretly hoping I could tow at Mavericks, which is what I ended up doing," he said.

Butler also ended up going to the hospital after being held down at Mavericks while filming final scenes of the movie.

"When they see the waves in this movie, they’ll go, 'Now I can understand why something like that would happen.'”

The movie was filmed primarily in Half Moon Bay and Mavericks surf break last year with trailer trucks carrying all kinds of moviemaking equipment (and surfboards), lining Coastside streets.

Butler says his favorite thing about filming the movie was the surfers he met and spent time with.

More of the Butler interview can be read on TransWorld Surf here.

"Chasing Mavericks" will be in theaters everywhere on Oct. 26.

What do you think of a beginner surfer like Gerard Butler taking on Mavericks, even if it's his job as an actor to film a part in a movie?

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